Eyelet



DE WITT 0. SEE.

BYELET.

(No Model.)

Patented Nov. 24, 1896.

In; Noam:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

DE WlTT 0. SEE, OF SANDY HILL, NEW YORK.

EYELET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,033, dated November 24, 1898.

Application filed September 13, 1894, Serial No. 522,931. (No model.)

To all whom, it hur concern:

Be it known that 1, DE Wrrr 0. SEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sandy Hill, in the county of Washington and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Eyelets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is an eyelet adapted for use in connection with lacing-cords on shoes, corsets, and in other places where the cord is subject to friction and ,wear by contact with the walls of the eyelet, and said invention is more particularly designed as an improvement upon eyelets of that kind which employ means to reduce the friction and wear upon the lacing-cord.

In eyelets of the kind to which my invention relates it is requisite that the lacing-cord be prevented from wedging or being caught in. the space between the walls of the eyelet and the friction-roller when the lacing-cord is pulled tight to draw together the parts of the shoe, corset, or other article to which the eyelets and lacing-cord are applied; and it is also requisite that the eyelet be so constructed that it may be applied close up to the edge of the shoe, corset, 850., and that the frictionroller be compactly arranged within said eyelet and yet provide for the free passage of the lacing-cord through the eyelet and over the friction-roller.

To the accomplishment of these ends my invention consists of an eyelet which in plan has a straight side and a curved wall so joined and arranged as to make the eyelet present a substantially D-shaped appearance and a friction-roller situated within the eyelet close up to and parallel with the straight side of said eyelet, so as to take up very little room and leave ample space in the curved part of the eyelet for the passage or play of the lacing-cord, said roller being journaled in and between parallel ends of the rounded part of the eyelet. The arrangement of the roller within the eyelet close up to the straight side wall thereof is important and advantageous because it prevents the lacing-cord from being improperly threaded, either by accident or through carelessness or ignorance, through the eyelet. It will be understood that the antifriction-roller is arranged so close to the straight wall of the eyelet as to prevent the admission of the lacing-cord between said straight wall of the eyelet and the roller, while at the same time ample space for the passage of the lacing-cord is left between the curved side of the eyelet and the roller.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated the same in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a series of eyelets and alacing-eord applied to ashoe, corset, or other article whose edges are to be drawn together by the lacing-cord. Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the eyelet with the frictionroller detached. Fig. 3'representsin a detached plan view the friction-roller and the I arbor or pin on which it is journaled. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of the complete eyelet. Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of the eyelet, showing its reverse side and illustrating it clenched to an article.

Like letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.

In Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5, A designates the eyelet, which is made or struck up in a single piece of metal by any approved dies or machinery, and the eyelet proper has a straight side, a continuous curved side or-Wall, and straight neck portions that join the curved wall to the straight side, said straight portions between the curved wall and straight side being parallel to each other and at right angles to the straight side. The eyelet proper is thus made to present a substantially D- shaped appearance, and from the head or face of the eyelet projects a clenchable flange that is adapted to be inserted into and passed through a hole in the shoe, corset, &c., and to be bent or clenched against the reverse side of inner face of the article to which the eyelet is applied, as shown by Fig. 5,

F is the antifrict-ion-roller, which, as shown by Fig. 3, is made of cylindrical form except at the ends, and the end portions of this roller are flared outwardly, as clearly shown, to produce guard-flanges that are adapted tolie close up to the straight neck portions of the eyelet and substantially flush with the exposed face of said eyelet, as shown by Fig. 4,

for the purpose of deflecting or turning outwardly the edge or edges of the lacing-cord, and thereby prevent said lacing-cord from wedging or catching in spaces between the walls of the eyelet and the ends of the antif riction-roller. This roller is supported within the eyelet on a pin or arbor E. (Shown more clearly by Fig. 3 of the drawings.) The roller is made hollow or with an axial opening, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and through the roller passes the pin or arbor. The ends of this pin or arbor pass through openings provided in the projecting clenchable flange of the eyelet, said ends of the pin or arbor being headed or riveted up against the eyelet in order to securely hold the pin or arbor in place. In adjusting my antifriction roller within the D -shaped eyelet I place the roller close up to the straight side or wall of the eyelet and with the flanged ends of the roller close to the straight neck portions, so that the edges of the guard-flanges lie practically flush with the face or head of the rivet, after which the arbor or pin is adjusted and secured. It will be noted that the friction-roller is arranged to leave ample space between itself and the curved wall for the free insertion and passage of the lacingcord, and that the flared ends forming the guard-flanges on the roller lie so close to the straight neck portions of the eyelet as to leave just suflicient clearance for the roller to rotate within the eyelet. The roller is thus constructed and arranged to have its guard-flanged ends deflect or turn the edges of the lacing-cord, and at the same time it provides a flat cylindrical surface between its flanged ends for the bearing of the lacingcord, so that thelatter is kept in a flat condition or prevented from twisting, thus presenting a neat appearance, which is always desirable and more especiallyin shoe-lacings.

The construction of the eyelets in D shape enables me to apply them close up to the edges of the shoe-upper or other article on which the eyelet is used. The eyelets are applied to the article by adjusting them with their straight sides adjacent and close up to the edge of the upper, the eyelets on one part being arranged in reverse order to those on the opposite part, as shown by Fig. 1. Holes having been made in the upper or corset, the flanged eyelets are placed in the holes and clenched to the article, and the lacing is now unskilled persons to always pass through the eyelet between the roller and rounded wall because the rollers lie so close up to the straight sides. The friction-rollers serve the purposes of insuring free passage of the lacing-cord over the rollers, of making the cord lie fiat to present a neat appearance, and of turning the edges of the cord outward to obviate catching of the cord in the eyelets.

Having thus fully described inyinvention, what I claim as 'new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An eyelet provided with straight and parallel neck portions and a straight side wall connecting said neck portions, and a roller journaled in said straight neck portions and in juxtaposition to the straight side wall of the eyelet, the inner face of the straight side wall being equal in length to the length of the roller, as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DE IVITT G. SEE.

\Vitnesses:

.IEANNETTE MCFARLAND, S. B. AMBLER.

. KWWWM 

